Datagrid edit command textbox reference

[janetb99]

I'm trying to replace some text in a datagrid's textbox on edit. I've done this a thousand times, but I'm not seeing the problem. Stops on "tada" line with Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Any help appreciated. Protected Sub dgAnswers_ItemCommand(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGridCommandEventArgs) Handles dgAnswers.ItemCommand If e.CommandName = "Edit" Then dgAnswers.EditItemIndex = e.Item.ItemIndex CType(dgAnswers.Items(e.Item.ItemIndex).FindControl("txtAnsEdit"), TextBox).Text = "tada"

[uoods]

I think you should break your statements into different parts. Do you feel pressured to stick all those functions on one single line? Doing this will allow you to see the problem more quickly, fix it and move on. This example probably has bugs in it, but try something like this:

If e.CommandName = "Edit" Then
dgAnswers.EditItemIndex = e.Item.ItemIndex
Dim txt as Textbox
txt = CType(dgAnswers.Items(e.Item.ItemIndex).FindControl("txtAnsEdit"),TextBox)
If not isnothing(txt) then
'since you have the object reference assigned to txt, assign the value using this alias
txt.Text = "tada"
Else
'Could not find the textbox.
End if
End If